My work is featured in a new Routledge guide to communication.

When George Mason University’s David Anderson invited me to contribute to Health and Safety Communication: A Practical Guide Forward, I wanted to bring attention to an influential yet unseen demographic: diverse elders.

For diverse elders, invisibility is a barrier to support. In 2015, a national advocacy group asked me to design and implement a consumer portal and digital campaign for its housing initiative. Focused on diverse elders, the national initiative mobilizes support, innovates services and educates people on issues ranging from housing and long term care to cultural competency and mental health.

The 300-page guide published by Routledge looks at how professionals engage with their audiences. A digital campaign I led in Spring 2016 yielded record engagement for the organization and boosted support for diverse elders across generational lines.

By designing a more inclusive consumer ed approach to engagement, we were able to triple our reach and then some. I hope our success, which I outlined in “Creating empathy through intergenerational dialogue” (page 20) inspires professionals as they navigate new terrain in digital marketing and public policy.